Solace in the Enemy
by Tabula Rasa
Summary: {Multi-part} Returning to Hogwarts, Cho Chang is distraught over the death of Cedric Diggory. As she sinks deeper and deeper into depression, it seems that the only person who wants to help her is Draco Malfoy. But does he just have a hidden agenda of his


Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. 

General Warnings: Umm...none at the moment, really. Except for violence in later chapters as well as some sexual content and conversation. 

Warnings for this Chapter: None. 

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**Solace in the Enemy**

**Prologue**

**Welcome Back**

  


_I see you all, we're back again,_

_To the place where this all began,_

_Laughter, tears and fights,_

_How often did we carry on throughout the nights?_

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_Planning for the future and the now,_

_We had fun and how,_

_Were we able to forget these times_

_That now are left in these rhymes?_

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_Welcome back to this hallowed place,_

_Of memories that can't be replaced,_

_And it never matters how far we roam,_

_Because no matter what, this is our home._

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~ Welcome Back © 2002, Kelsi Willis

  
  


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Cho Chang was sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, leaning against the window, her forehead resting on the cool glass. Outside, the gloomy London rain pounded against the thick window, reflecting Cho's mood. Her summer had been filled with grief, tears and sorrow. Her life had taken a most definite downturn since the end of June. At home, she had been alone, her mother out at meetings all summer long, never home. It didn't matter much to Cho, that had been how it always was, her mother leaving her at home with the servants, most likely her nanny, Arabella Figg. However, it was different this summer, as Cho had no nanny anymore, she was too old for one, as her mother said. Therefore, Cho spent the summer alone. 

She had never had many friends at school, they all thought of her as stuck-up and snobby. They also disliked her for her intelligence, as Cho was the youngest in her year. In her second year, after finding all the work too easy, she had been allowed to skip a year. That was the main reason for everyone not really liking her. Cedric had been her first true friend and now he was...Cho tried to force herself not to think about that, but it was too late. 

She wrapped her arms around her midsection as the tears began to fall. They were silent, just rivulets of water falling down her cheeks. She was wrapped up in her crying and did not notice another person entering the compartment. 

"Cho?" a voice asked hesitantly, "Can I sit in here, all the other places are full?" 

"Go away." Cho whispered, not even looking at who it was. 

"Cho." the person said. 

"I said, go away!" Cho leapt up, turning to face the person. Harry Potter backed up, eyes wide. Cho continued on, oblivious to his expression, "Go the hell away, Potter!" 

Without another word, Harry turned on his heel and darted out of the compartment. Cho slumped back in her seat, wiping her tears on her sleeves. "I'm sorry.." she whispered, looking at the now closed door. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap..." she whispered, the tears starting to fall again. 

"Aren't we a mess today?" a new voice drawled from the doorway. 

Looking up, Cho saw Draco Malfoy. 

"Shut up, Draco." she snapped, wiping away her tears angrily. 

"Here." the blonde handed her a handkerchief. 

"Thanks." Cho took it and finished wiping her tears on it. 

"I'm sorry about what happened to Cedric." Draco said simply. 

"No you're not." Cho replied sharply, "You don't care about anyone but yourself." 

"You assume too much, Cho." Draco smirked, his grey eyes dancing. 

"Do I now?" Cho said bitingly. 

"I know exactly how you feel at this moment." Draco said, sitting beside her. 

"I doubt you could." Cho said, her brown eyes as hard as rocks. 

"You're upset, drowning in misery and sorrow. You snap at anyone who tries to get close to you now. You're angry at the world, at yourself and at Potter because you think there's something he could've done." Draco said, folding his arms, "And you want revenge." 

"How did you know?" Cho's eyes narrowed as she folded up the handkerchief. 

"Because that's exactly how I felt when my sister died." Draco said, closing his eyes as a pained expression passed across his face, "Just before I started my first year at Hogwarts." 

"Oh." was all that Cho managed to say, "I'm sorry." 

"S'okay." Draco said, "I've gotten to get over it." 

"How can you do that?" Cho demanded of him angrily, "How can you talk about it so flippantly?" 

"Because I've learned how to." was Draco's reply, "I've learned not to feel. So I don't get hurt." 

"I wish I could." Cho said bitterly, "I wish I couldn't feel." 

Draco smiled ruefully, "Anyway, I've got to go and meet up with my lackeys. See you around, Chang." with that, he got up and left the compartment. 

_That was one of the oddest conversation's I've ever had_, Cho thought, looking back out the window. It was still pouring.   
  


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"I walked in there and she snapped at me." came a voice through the compartment that Draco Malfoy was walking past. He stopped. It was the voice of Harry Potter. Stopping, Draco decided to listen in. 

"So?" came the voice of Ron Weasley. 

"So how am I going to ask her out if whenever I come near her, she snaps at me?" Potter asked. 

"Don't look at me. I'm no expert at asking girls out." Weasley said, "You're the one who asked out Padma for me last year at the Yule Ball and Hermione was the one to ask me out." 

"Argh!" Potter growled. 

"Well, why don't you just go up to Cho and ask her!" Weasley said, exhasperation in his voice. 

_Potter likes Cho Chang?_ a slow smile was spreading across Draco's face as the gears in his head whirled into action...he had the perfect chance to annoy the hell out of Potter...and Cho wasn't that bad looking with her long, straight black hair and golden skin... "This has definite possibilities.." he muttered as he continued on down the hall to the compartment where Crabbe and Goyle were, a plot forming in his mind. 


End file.
